


something like his place

by Gerbilfriend



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Lower Alleys, finding a place
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:15:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27396322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gerbilfriend/pseuds/Gerbilfriend
Summary: Remus learns and teaches in the lower alleys and finds both easier then he expected
Comments: 33
Kudos: 53
Collections: Rigel Black Exchange Round 2





	something like his place

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DistractedDaydreamer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DistractedDaydreamer/gifts).



_ Free dueling. _

Remus sat at the kitchen table and tried to sort through his thoughts, tried to sort through the conversation that had just happened and the convoluted mess that he could tell that this whole thing soon would be.

_ Free dueling. _

_ Free dueling in the alleys. _

And he was going along with it. 

_ The alleys are not your place,  _ Remus had wanted to tell Harry on the day he had caught her free dueling.

_ The alleys are not the place for girls in the book of gold. They aren’t the place for you. _

That was before he found out about the matches. 

_ Harry, James is head of the aurors, don’t do this to him. Don’t make him arrest his own kid for free dueling.  _ Of course, he has to find a more tactful way to say that.

And a more tactful way to point out that there was a difference between a safe, regulated duel and a free duel.

_ But she’s already been in a match,  _ part of his brain reminded him. 

Of course, the alleys also seemed to be fond of disabusing him of that illusion. By the end of the tournament he had known that Harry had been there to stay.

Remus just hadn’t expected that he would come back as well.

He knew Ralph, knew he would stay in contact with Ralph from the first time that Harry introduced him because there were only so many werewolves in Britain and if they didn’t help each other out then who would. That was different. That was Remus trying to make sure a new werewolf had the help he needed. Remus knew how lucky he had been in his friends, his school.

Helping Ralph was part of that.

This was something else.

Remus wasn’t sure what to call this.

Margo, Jason, Cora. They all sat in the front row, more kids behind them. Alley kids, squib and non squib alike as they stared at him, far more focused than most of the classes at Hogwarts as he started to lecture on the dark.

Dark creatures weren’t his favorite thing to teach, too many assumptions, to many errors he wanted to question because he had been called dark one to many times and if he was-

Remus shook those thoughts off as he went back to explaining the signs of boggart habitation, not everyone in the courtyard could cast a riddikulus.

Making sure they could spot one, could spot one and go for help was what he could do. 

Then the lesson was over. The spell, such as teaching was, broke as the children darted out to tasks Remus wasn’t sure that he would approve of.

“You’re good at teaching”, a voice said from within the Dancing Phoenix, and there was a story behind that name, Remus just knew it, said.

_ Rispah.  _

“Thank you”.

“You taught before at Hogwarts, didn’t you?”.

“I had the privilege of teaching there for a year”. And he didn’t regret it, only that he hadn’t kept a closer eye on Archie. 

“How long are you planning to teach here?”.  _ Are you going to have your fill of slumming it?  _

“As long as I can arrange it for, they’re good students and a pleasure to teach”. Remus could tell that from only one class.

Not a single one of them had flinched away from him either. 

Remus pushed that thought away.

Rispah met his eyes, it felt like he was being stared straight through,  _ Rispah heads the organization for the women of the alleys,  _ Harry had told him.

Remus believed her.

“You might as well have lunch while your here”, Remus saw the start of a grin on her face, sharp enough to draw blood, “tell me, do you like milk?”.

She laughed, smile bright as Remus stared at her, trying to figure out quite where the non sequitur had come from.

They ate together, conversation light as Rispah asked him question after question about his teaching.

It was a test, Remus knew it was a test.

It was a test he didn’t mind taking.

It was the first time he had lunch with Rispah.

It would not be the last.

_ It's a community a community where people help each other,  _ Harry had told him and Remus had known that Harry was at least in part trying to get him to relax about that fact that she was going into the lower alleys, where James frequently sent squads of aurors and Remus knew had a high crime rate, alone.

It was not, Remus was finding, to be incorrect.

“Thought you might like this back”, Margo said, smiling brightly, his coin pouch in hand.

“But I-”.

“Max’s good at filching purses, don’t feel bad”, Margo said, like it was normal to be consoled by a kid who didn’t even have their wand yet.

There were so many things that he wanted to say. “Does he come to lessons?”, was what came out.

Margo just shrugged.

“Well let him know he’s welcome”.

“Even though he filched you?”.

“It just means that I have to be more observant”, and really Harry had been the first warning of that, this was just a good reminder.

Margo grinned. “We can help you with that”.

Vaguely Remus wondered if he would regret it or not.  _ Either way, it will be good practice. _

“Does Harry get her pockets filched?”, Remus tried, mimicking the words Margo used.

“Leo’d have our ears for that”, Margo said, wide eyed.

Leo, Remus had slowly learned, starting from the tournament and stretching onwards, was important to the alleys. And, apparently, looked after Harry as well. He stored that away to think about later.

Later turned out to be his lunch that day, Leo sliding onto the open stool at the table he was sharing with Rispah as they debated the best ways to block scents and what perfumes were the least offensive to werewolf noses. 

It wasn’t a conversation he was used to having, not when the other person was so relaxed.

“Heard you almost got flinched today”.

“Does everyone know that now?”, Rispah had mentioned it too.

“Just some of us. You going to make a big deal of it?”. Leo’s eyes were hard when he asked and Remus was reminded of the fact that this young man had won a free dueling tournament and won it well.

“It just reminded me that I have to be more observant”

“Makes sense. Some of them might take that as a challenge”. 

“I’m sure it will be good practice”, remaining neutral with Leo was good Remus had learned, the young man liked to poke and prod and he was good at it too.

It was easy to see why Harry and he were friends. He was also a contradiction, but Remus was learning that the alleys were full of contradictions.

It just made him want to learn more.

The lower alleys were layers on top of layers on top of layers, they were no one's place and everyone's place.

Maybe, if he was lucky, the alleys could even be something like his place.

That was If Harry didn’t mind having her Uncle around sometimes.

  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
